Wyoming General Elk Help

[mooretitan]

My son and dad have the points next year to hunt general elk and I am looking for some help. I posted a few weeks ago and and got a couple PM's but I am looking for a little more information. Hopefully someone with lots of experience can help me out. I already have zones picked out, looked ay harvest reports, called and talked to a couple bios, looked over some google earth. Also planning a 10 day scouting trip this summer. We have hunted elk before and plan to be successful. I know we will find elk during our scouting trip but what I cant plan for is where the typical hunting pressure will come from during rifle season. Since it looks like a Wyoming general tag is going to be a 4-5 point thing in the future its not like I can just learn the pressure from year to year. I know its asking a lot and I am not posting zones because I know thats not rokslide thing to do. But it would really help me out a lot to have a couple honest conversations with hunters that can point me in the right direction over PMs.
If not I understand, I will keep researching and will have a solid game plan for the season. we burn enough boot leather that luck will at some point hopefully come are way.

Thanks

 

[Silentstalker]

During rifle season the majority of the pressure will be from the roads and trailheads/horse trails. To know anything more than that would require knowing exactly where you are hunting.

 

[dieselchessy]

In my very general experience there will be lots of Atv road pressure and horsemen on the trails. The locals tend to hunt the first several days looking for horns and then fade out.
I assume they then wait for easier late season opportunities.
Like everywhere they drive from the big cities to the mountains and easier trailer parking type camping spots will be in short supply.

For me, it’s not unlike Washington or Idaho general season. Just more and better quality elk. Same hunters doing the same things.

 

[ClearCreek]

Depending on where you hunt, keep in mind that the locations you saw elk during your summer scouting trip may not be the places where they are during the hunting season, especially during the rifle season.

By the time the rifle season starts the grasses have cured at higher elevations, the elk have been subjected to archery hunting, the rut has occurred and the weather will have changed. All of these things can cause elk to move to different places from where they spent July and August.

ClearCreek

 

[mooretitan]

Thats the hard thing with scouting in the late summer by the time Oct comes things can change a lot. The areas that we are looking at hopefully wont see much of a change but again its a gamble. But we will have a feel for the land and at least where to start. The plan is to break the scouting drip into 3 day for each spot. Each zone has pretty good success rate and large elk herds so hopefully that works in our favor. From looking at maps lots of general units have tons of roads its just a matter of finding some areas to get off the beaten path that hold elk.